If he comes back to me, I have to take him home.”

Spencer O’Brien looked hesitantly at a pile of puppies up the back hill of Alaska Heliskiing’s compound at Mile 35, Haines, AK. Their mom was a big, white, shaggy dog who lives there. The dad, unknown. Spencer was hooked. 

A little black ball of fuzz left the crate and waddled over. She named him Buns after her first ever run in Alaska, Canadian Buns. A ridge draped in pillows and spines, it’s a heavy intro to AK, but she’d ridden it fluidly and gone back for more, channeling powerful edge control and steadfast confidence built through a decade competing at the highest level of slopestyle and big air. Not a typical career path for someone hailing from tiny Alert Bay…

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